Welcome to some political/economic thoughts

A good place to start, with the investigation into the supposed criminal actions of Senator Mike Duffy, the Conservatives' star appointee to the Senate - well, he was. Not much to say really, there are several ideas that a viewer of the commentaries can come away with including that Duffy was provided with his seat as a PEI Senator with many reassurances that it was all okay. He was obviously valuable for his money raising Conservative proselytizing efforts whether that fit into Senate business or not - it was not something that bothered anyone in the PMO.

When things became a bit uncertain, and it might be apparent that Duffy would go "squirrelly" on the Harper Conservatives, a government fraud/cover-up appears to have been put in place with the accounting procedures.

To be honest, this is good media - can't wait to hear what his e-mails and diary have to say about Nigel Wright and the PMO!

AIIB

Many of you probably do not know about the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) unless you have checked out some of my references from before. It is the new bank being established by China that is doing two main things: first, it is avoiding using the US$ as a means of payment; secondly, it is tying together the Chinese 'New Silk Road' with the Russian Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The EEU now consists of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Armenia. It is destined to soon include Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and other middle Asian partners along with other interested states along the margins.

It is geographically/geopolitically significant as it projects huge infrastructure develpment throughout Asia - seaports, airports, highways, high speed rail, mines, health facilities, educational institutions, and all the associated civic structures - its importance is also related to the countries who have applied to be part of the bank.

Canada is not one of them. Israel has applied. So has France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Italy, the United Kingdom, India, Iran, Australia and up to a count of 57 countries with over 60 per cent of the global population. Not Canada. Not Japan. Not the U.S. North Korea and Taiwan applied and were rejected.

Ever wonder why there are wars in Ukraine? In Syria? Anywhere in the Middle East? In Yemen? A new Cold War (that Putin has kept from getting hot)? At the base of them all are U.S. concerns about its debt ridden economy losing control of the US$ as the global reserve currency. The rhetoric is all about democracy and freedom; the reality is all about resource/financial control, more and more becoming the responsibility of the NSA/Pentagon/CIA/Boeing/Raytheon/JPMorgan et al complex of military-industrial-fianancial bureaus and corporations.

Khadr

Speaking of freedom and democracy, I fully support the Edmonton judges decision to free on bail Omar Khadr. Harper is doing his best to use Khadr as a voting wedge, the usual fear of the 'other', Islamophobia to support his increasingly draconian security measures with the main point and end of it all to try and win the next election.

Perhaps Khadr did throw the grenade that killed a U.S. soldier. A U.S. military court, especially one held at Guantanamo, known for its torture tactics, is hardly a place to have a fair trial. As for Khadr, he was - at that time - a child soldier.

More importantly the situation is described as a "fire fight" against U.S. forces. Face it, war is a crime against humanity. If Khadr is then guilty of 'war crimes', then every soldier, seaman, airman and their leaders and governors are also guilty of war crimes.

It is interesting to note that the government is makiing tons of adverse comments about Khadr, while they are silent on Duffy as it is "before the courts". Talk about double standards.

NDP in Alberta

Again speaking of freedom and democracy, we have all witnessed the amazing if not surprising win of the NDP in Alberta as predicted by the polls (which have recently been frequently wrong). With oil prices down and the economy based mainly on that one resuorce - and based poorly as per royalties and the environment - along with the circus of political movement by both the Wild Rose and Conservative parties, many people decided to dump the long time Alberta Conservatives.

But it was not just a vote against the Cons. The NDP increased their vote by 400 per cent (how's that for a wonderful statistic!) and not all of it was vote switching and not all the majority was vote splitting. One detailed analysis I read indicated that the number of switched votes did not account for the totality of the huge change. The size of the increase was also due to many new young voters voting with a social conscience for better education, health, and environmental conditions.

One can only hope that will have an impact on many other young voters across Canada to demonstrate that they can make a difference with the social aspects of our society, for too long dominated by the neocon/neoliberal agenda that places banks and corporations ahead of people and the environment.

Saudi Arabia

Our wonderful democratic ally, Saudi Arabia has begun attacking the Houthi rebels in Yemen. This is supposedly to prevent Iran from getting a foothold in Yemen, even though the Shia elements in Yemen are considerably different from those of Iran. Not saying that Iran is not interested in supporting them, as that would create a possible serious problem mostly for Saudi Arabia, armed with huge amounts of U.S. supplies, but woefully unprepared in any other military sense.

Of course the U.S.likes this. It is great for the armaments industry, and just like back in the 1980s when oil money was recycled through U.S. banks (remember the loans and savings fiasco? Ever read House of Bush - House of Saud?) and through U.S. armaments industries. Same thing today.

Did I mention beheadings? The total as of Friday, May 08 was 80 with the last five being foreign nationals, well on the way to beat last years 88 beheadings. Harper can only dream.

CBC

Can't resist taking another poke at CBC. The Ukrainian oligarch Poroshenko's views were aired by the CBC as news. Apparently it was Russia that forced him to turn to the west (of course those nazi Banderites like Yatsenuk had nothing to do with it). He indicated that there were 7 000 dead and 1 000 missing because of the rebellion in the east. It is probably higher than that as the Ukraine army suffered severe losses in the winter phase of the war, and in particular at the end of the fight for the Debaltsevo cauldron. Those loses are what led to Angela Merkel panicking and meeting with Putin to put an end to the rebels successes. (Ever notice that the flag of the rebels is very similar to the flag of the Confederate States from the U.S. civil war - another war about dominance and financial control of a state).

So do "we make the news"? Of course. Nothing was attempted to "balance" this information with the actual events that are occurring in the Ukraine. So yes, the news is made, it is a win for the powers that be.

Double Standards

Just a short note on double standards. In its effort to 'isolate' Russia, consider this from the U.S.: Rosatom owns Uranium One, a company that extracts 20 per cent of U.S. uranium ores domestically; the U.S. still imports its 8 per centage points of oil imports from Russia; and finally, the U.S. continues to use Russian rocket engines and launchers in order to access the International Space Station.